Quick as a blink he changed to a man and came up to her, his eyes clouded with sympathy.

“You’ve had a rough few days, en? You smell stressed,” he said.

Yenni crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. “And what exactly does that smell like?”

Weysh furrowed his brow in thought. “Something like burnt bread mixed with sweat.”

Yenni jerked back. “Are you trying to tell me I need a bath?”

Weysh put his hands up, as if in surrender. “No, no! Not a bath, well, not unless you think it would relax you. And perhaps after . . .”—he gave her a mischievous grin—“when you’re all warm and soft, and your muscles are more pliable, I could give you a soothing back rub. I’m told I give very good back rubs.”

“Oh, I see,” said Yenni. “And who gave you that glowing review? Carmenna?”

He cringed and scratched the back of his head. “I suppose I walked right into that one. Erm, how did your demonstration go?”

“Mainard has agreed to let me stay.” Yenni detailed all that had happened in the last few hours.

“I never had a single doubt,” said Weysh, smiling fondly at her. “Still it’s lucky you were there to stop that . . . whatever it was from braining the man, en? Byen be praised.”

“Yes,” Yenni said slowly. In truth it was quite lucky, and something about that nagged at her, but now was not the time to dwell on it. She had more pressing matters to attend to. “Listen, Weh-sheh. I need your help.”

She explained what she needed and he readily agreed.

“And after that I’ll take you to a good height where you can take in the city and we’ll just cruise for a bit,” he said. “That always does wonders for me. And then—oho!” He snapped his fingers. “I know just where to take you. You’ll forget all your worries when you see this place, trust me.”

That sounded absolutely wonderful. The chance to get free, even for a little while, of the worrisome thoughts that had been plaguing her for days was a powerful temptation. And yet she had made a promise to Carmenna, and then there was the letter from Prince Natahi.

“I’ll stay in dragon if that puts you at ease,” said Weysh. “But please let me do this for you—as a friend. I know you like flying with me, lovely. And I hate to see you upset.”

At Yenni’s hesitation he backed up and changed again to dragon, then bent low so she could mount.

She sighed and climbed onto his back.